Black Howl

by Christina Henry

  Beezle looked contemplative. “Deal. Of course, I fully expect that we’ll all be killed by this idiocy.”

  And with that he took off down the tunnel. I waited a few moments, and then followed behind him. I very much hoped that Beezle was wrong, and that my half-assed plan wasn’t about to get us all killed.

  4

  I CREPT FORWARD INTO THE PASSAGE. THE CEILING WAS even lower here than in the cave. Since I am shorter than average, the top of the tunnel was an inch or two above my head. I glanced behind me to see the others filing in silently at the proscribed distance. The men were all hunched over. The wings of the angels scraped lightly against the walls and ceilings, and downy feathers drifted in their wake.

  The tunnel gleamed with the same strange light as the cave, but it was fainter. I couldn’t see Beezle ahead of us. He’d obviously gotten a little overzealous with his scouting duties. My heart beat wildly in my chest and I made a conscious effort to silence the sound of my breath. Several minutes passed, and I felt the frantic build of adrenaline inside me, anticipating the attack that would not come.

  I became aware of an insistent pressure at my hip and could hear a faint buzzing sound. It belatedly registered that my phone was ringing. I pulled it from my pocket and read J.B.’s name on the screen before stuffing it away again. There was no way I was answering the call right now. Never mind the fact that we could be attacked at any minute—J.B. was probably only calling to yell at me about something.

  The fact that I was picking up a cell signal told me that we were still on the Earth that I knew, and that gave me a little comfort. It meant that we didn’t have such a long way to get home. If we got home at all, that was.

  Beezle suddenly loomed out of the darkness in front of me and I swallowed a startled scream.

  “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” I hissed.

  He landed on my shoulder and whispered in my ear. “You have to see this. Tell the others to stay here.”

  “Oh, yeah, like they’ll go for that,” I said.

  “Order them to stay if you have to,” he said, and his voice dropped even further, until I could barely hear. I knew he was trying to dodge the supernatural hearing of certain members of our party. “You don’t want Jude to see until you can prepare him.”

  My stomach dropped. Beezle must have found the cubs.

  I turned and waited for Gabriel to catch up to me and then signaled the others to stop. Gabriel looked terribly uncomfortable hunched over. I waved him closer and indicated he should use his wings to block us from the others. He crouched a little farther down so he could close us in the private circle of his wings.

  Beezle’s found something, I signed. Gabriel had taught sign language to both Samiel and me, and it was pretty handy just now. Jude’s hearing is unbelievable. I was surprised he hadn’t heard Beezle.

  What is it? Gabriel signed back.

  I don’t know. I’m going to go ahead with Beezle. I want you to keep the others here until I get back.

  Gabriel shook his head.

  This is no time for…I realized I didn’t know the sign for “testosterone,” so I just said it aloud. Beezle wouldn’t lead me into harm; you know that.

  I do not like you going by yourself, Gabriel replied.

  I won’t be by myself. I’ll be with Beezle. Please, just stay here and make sure the others do, too. Especially Jude.

  Gabriel looked like he wanted to argue some more but I shook my head at him. We didn’t have time for this.

  He nodded and backed away from me, and Beezle and I went forward. I hoped that Gabriel would actually listen to me and keep the others behind. If the cubs had been slaughtered by the demons, I didn’t want Jude to go on a suicidal rampage. I was certain Wade would want Jude to take care of their pack.

  Beezle and I went forward into the tunnel. I couldn’t see any turnings or junctions, just the same endless expanse of white rock, glowing faintly in the dark. I was reminded uncomfortably of my time in the Maze, the dark unknown stretching out before me, taking my measure, waiting for just the right moment to break my heart.

  After several minutes I felt Beezle’s claws tighten on my shoulder, a sure sign of his growing tension.

  “How much farther?” My voice was hardly louder than my breath, but it still sounded like a scream in the eerie stillness. We had long since passed out of the sight and sound of the others.

  “Very soon now,” Beezle growled.

  The tunnel abruptly turned, and I followed it. Beezle put his beak close to my ear.

  “Quietly.”

  I tiptoed forward, sure that the blood pounding in my body would be loud enough to give us away. At the end of the passage there was a brightly lit opening, and beyond that were the sounds of screams and moans.

  Gods above and below, I thought. I don’t want to see this.

  I steeled myself and crept to the edge of the passage.

  The tunnel sloped downward into a wide ramp for perhaps ten or fifteen feet, and then emptied into a huge cavern with soaring phosphorescent ceilings. There were large floodlights attached at intervals along the cavern walls. Cables snaked along the ground, attached to a humming generator in the far corner of the room.

  The wolf cubs were all in human form. There were about twenty of them, ranging in age from maybe eighteen months to ten years. They were all bound to hard metal chairs and their eyelids had been taped open. In front of each eyelid was a small object that looked like a digital video camera, except that the camera emitted targeted pulses of light at the cubs’ eyes.

  I didn’t know exactly what the cameras were doing to the cubs, but whatever it was couldn’t be good. Several of the smaller children were crying, and a couple of them looked like they had fainted, but since their eyes were forced open, the camera continued doing its gruesome work.

  On the opposite side of my perch, at the very front of the cavern, were three demons. All three were humanoid-shaped with dark green scales. They all had wickedly sharp-looking claws, large pointed ears and long simian tails. The end of each tail was tipped with a barb. The left cheek of each demon was branded with the same sigil that we had found on the rock that led to the portal.

  They seemed like they ought to be supervising the proceedings, but mostly they appeared bored. One demon had a chair tipped back against the wall and appeared to be dozing with half-closed eyes. The other two were playing some kind of game in the dirt with sticks. There was a lot of arguing and punching involved, although that may have had more to do with the personalities of the demons involved than the actual rules of their pastime.

  All seemed immune to the distress of the cubs. I didn’t see any sign of Wade, but there was another opening in the cavern beyond the demons. He could be held in another part of this place, or he could be in another location entirely. The cubs were before me, and obviously in pain, so they were my priority. Once the cubs were free, I could move on to the Wade problem.

  The demons looked like they’d be easy enough to take out. The trouble was that they might make noise and raise an alarm, causing who knew how many demon compatriots to come pouring out of the opening behind them. Plus, I had the additional snag of freeing all the cubs and then herding them back to the others.

  “Why did you tell me to come alone?” I hissed at Beezle. “This would be a lot easier with backup.”

  “I just wanted to give you time to plan. I thought Jude would overreact if he saw the cubs this way.”

  “And so he has,” growled a voice behind me.

  I almost jumped out of my skin. Jude was so close that I could feel his breath on my neck. I turned to see the others crowded up behind me.

  It was absolutely terrifying that four grown men could sneak up on me in the darkness and I had noticed nothing. I was really starting to wonder about my life expectancy.

  I glared at Gabriel. “I asked you to keep them behind.”

  He shrugged. I was beginning to think that he used this I-am-your-thrall business when it was c
onvenient for him to keep me at arm’s length. The rest of the time he ignored me if it suited him. He seemed incapable of leaving me alone in a potentially dangerous situation, whether I ordered him to do so or not.

  Jude looked like he was ready to leap over me and tear the guards into tiny demon pieces. I laid a restraining hand on his shoulder and he turned his furious, burning eyes on me.

  “What now, Lucifer’s spawn?” he said through his teeth, pushing my hand from him.

  “Don’t go charging in like an idiot,” I said, my own temper rising. I was sick of being called “Lucifer’s spawn” and having to deal with Jude’s rages. “We need a plan.”

  I deliberately stepped back from the opening and waved them all to me. Nathaniel, Gabriel and Samiel followed, but Jude took another look at the cubs, then glanced at me.

  “Don’t even think about it,” I whispered angrily. “Do you want to save their lives or do you want revenge?”

  Jude growled something that sounded like, “Why not both?” but joined the group with obvious reluctance.

  I outlined what I thought would be the best course of action given our limited numbers. They all nodded, even Jude.

  Samiel stepped forward, to the edge of the precipice, and spread his wings wide. It was a mark of how disengaged the demons were that they didn’t notice a tall blond angel ready to take flight right at their doorstep.

  I stood behind Samiel, Gabriel at my shoulder. Reaching inside me, I found the flickering candle that was the source of my magic. A blue ball of nightfire appeared, floating above the snake on my right palm. Beside me, Gabriel readied the same spell.

  I tapped Samiel once on the shoulder. He took flight, arrowing over the heads of the cubs and straight toward the other entranceway.

  The snoozing demon suddenly open his half-closed lids wide and the front legs of the chair slammed into the ground. He never had a chance to cry out. I hit him in the chest with nightfire and he burst into a riot of blue flames.

  His equally lazy compatriots tried to rise to their feet, to turn and fight, but Gabriel took out one and I the other. The three of them were nothing but ash by the time Samiel landed in the doorway at the other end. He turned to us and made an “okay” sign with his fingers, indicating that the alarm had not been raised.

  The rest of us ran down the ramp to the floor of the cavern and began untying the cubs. The children didn’t indicate that they were even aware of our actions.

  Some of them slumped in exhaustion as the bonds that held them upright released their limbs, but they all continued to stare into the light pulses as though under a spell, even after we removed the tape from their eyes. None of us could find an off switch for the devices.

  Jude gently shook the shoulder of one of the older boys. “Kieran? Wake up. It’s Jude.”

  “Do you think it’s safe to just lift them away from the cameras?” I asked Gabriel.

  He frowned. “I do not know. They seem to be under some sort of compulsion. I am afraid that if we did such a thing, we might damage their minds.”

  “We can’t stay here,” I said, watching Jude grow increasingly frustrated as he approached each child, called him or her by name, and received no response. “I’m sure there are other guards here, and I don’t want to try to battle a demon horde while protecting twenty cubs.”

  “Perhaps if we try to cover their eyes?” suggested Nathaniel. “First one, then the other. Maybe it will break the hold gradually.”

  “Or maybe,” Jude growled, pulling away from another unresponsive child in anger, “we should just break the fucking things.”

  He kicked the camera that was nearest to him even as I cried out, “No!”

  The falling camera knocked over the rest of the machines in the row like a cascade of dominoes. The effect on the cubs was immediate. They all began to scream in unison, high-pitched wails that grew louder and louder.

  There was a clatter of noise from beyond the cavern, the sounds of dozens of clawed feet clicking on the surface of rock, the angry, harsh cries of demon curses.

  “Great,” I said to Jude. “Just great. Come on, let’s get them out of here before we’re overrun.”

  Samiel stayed at the door and readied his nightfire. He still preferred to use his fists over his magic but he was a very fast learner. In some ways he was much more adept than I, and I’d had years of practice using my magic as an Agent.

  Nathaniel scooped two cubs under his arms. As soon as the children were separated from the pulse of the machines, they went stiff and began screaming.

  “Just get them up into the caves!” I shouted. “Nathaniel, you help me collect the kids. Gabriel, you help Samiel hold off the demons.”

  “I’m going to scope out the action,” Beezle said, and flew off in the direction of Samiel. It was a good thing Samiel couldn’t hear or else Beezle would probably drive him insane with suggestions for how best to conquer the approaching horde.

  Nathaniel and Gabriel headed off on their appointed tasks and I turned to Jude. He stared at the screaming cubs. He looked like he wasn’t sure if he was going to be sick or tear somebody’s head off.

  “Jude, take a couple of cubs and head up into the tunnel. Try to get them to respond to you.”

  He turned on me with a snarl. “I want to rip the limbs off the demons that did this to our cubs, not play nursemaid.”

  “Will you stop arguing about every freaking thing?” I shouted. “They know you. We’re going to need the older kids to walk if we want to get out of here, so JUST DO WHAT I SAY! Nathaniel and I will fly them up to you.”

  Jude huffed out an angry breath, then grabbed a couple of kids and bounded up to the tunnel.

  I picked up two of the smaller children and they both began to scream. It broke my heart to hear such little ones in so much pain.

  “Shh, shh,” I tried to soothe as I flew up to the tunnel. “It’s going to be all right.”

  I handed them to Jude, who looked grim. I couldn’t blame him. The cubs were all still screaming their heads off. We had a lot of tunnel to cover to return to the portal, and I had no idea how we would do it with almost two dozen damaged kids.

  As I flew back to the cavern I heard the sounds of demons crying out, and the air was filled with the smells of ozone and cinnamon. The fine hairs on the back of my neck stood up as the energy of magic filled the cavern.

  Samiel and Gabriel were throwing spells faster than I could see. I didn’t want to think about how many demons had to be in that passage beyond the cavern.

  I approached the last cubs. Nathaniel was carrying three or four at a go and there were only these two remaining. One of them was perhaps four years old, and the other looked about eight.

  As soon as I separated them from the machines the younger child began to scream like the others. The older child, however, got up and walked away from the chair, toward the cavern wall. His eyes were blank and staring but he didn’t seem to comprehend what was before him.

  “Hey!” I called after him. I was cradling the little one, who had to weigh at least forty pounds, in my right arm. I touched the older child on the shoulder with my free hand and he cried out as if I’d burned him.

  “Can’t stop—sorry red—gotta go!” he shouted.

  I stared at him. The boy walked into the cavern wall face-first, bounced off and walked into it again. Just like the ghost I’d found. Just like all the ghosts that J.B. had told me were popping up all over the city.

  “Umm, are you just going to stand there contemplating the mysteries of life or are you going to stop that kid from breaking his nose?” Beezle asked.

  I shook my head, coming out of my reverie, and looked around. Nathaniel had gone to help Gabriel and Samiel, and Jude had his hands full with the cubs.

  “Get those cameras,” I said to Beezle as I stepped forward and lifted the older boy away from the wall.

  The younger child in my right arm was screaming in my ear and it made it hard for me to think. I flew the cubs toward Jude.r />
  “Why?” Beezle called after me. “Don’t you think you have greater priorities right now?”

  “Just do it!” I shouted over my shoulder. “Why does everything I say have to be questioned?”

  I handed the last two children to Jude. The older boy was mumbling something under his breath. I leaned closer so I could hear what he said.

  “I am the scream—I am the scream—I am the scream…”

  My eyes widened.

  “What is it?” asked Jude.

  I shook my head. There was no time to explain. “Start herding the kids toward the portal as best you can. I’m going to see if we can’t close off entry to the cave on the other side.”

  “What about Wade?” Jude asked.

  “We don’t know for certain that he’s here. The cubs have to be our priority.”

  “He was with the cubs,” Jude said stubbornly. “If you close off the entry, how will we find him?”

  “We can’t let the demons chase us down when we have twenty incapacitated kids,” I snapped. “I promise you, we will come back for Wade. Let’s just get the cubs to safety.”

  While I argued with Jude, Beezle had managed to carry several of the camera-things up to the mouth of the tunnel. He looked breathless and out of sorts as he turned back to get another load. I flew next to him for a moment as I crossed the cavern to the others.

  “You’d better have a good reason for this,” he grumbled.

  “Look at it this way—you might actually burn a calorie or two,” I said sweetly.

  He dipped down to the cavern floor, cursing up a storm, and I continued on to the other entrance. The three angels stood shoulder to shoulder, and all of them looked beleaguered. When I stepped around Nathaniel and peered down the mouth of the tunnel, I could see why.

  The tunnel was packed from floor to ceiling with the same kind of green demons that had been monitoring the cubs. They hung from the ceiling, crawled along the walls and ran over the floor of the cave. They were packed so densely that they appeared to be one giant pulsing mass, a many-tentacled monster with a thousand burning eyes.